CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, April 27, 2012 – With the UWF “Tournament of Warriors” only a week away, it’s time to profile some of the fighters competing for the $25,000 grand prize in each division and the inaugural title of UWF champion.
Today we begin with the lightweight bracket and Chris Quitiquit of the Team GracieFighter and Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
A native of Manteca, California, this 27 year old initially got exposed to the world of martial arts just like most red-blooded young men in America – through watching Kung-Fu movies, playing Street Fighter II, and childhood Tae Kwon Do classes. As he got older, he never lost touch with that passion for all things fighting and eventually found his way into MMA – a move he credits for bringing a lot of positivity into his life.
“I’ve been through a lot and done some pretty crazy and stupid shit in my life,” he says about those times before starting in the sport. “MMA is another way to satisfy my craving for that adrenaline rush, plus it keeps me out of trouble and in shape.”
Training mostly with close friends Nick and Nate Diaz at their Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Fight Team in the city of Lodi, Chris experienced some early success in the sport – winning his first four fights in a two year span before taking his first loss, a decision, back in 2010. He’s been balancing working full-time as a construction worker along with taking care of his young daughter since then but has never given up hope to one day make it into the UFC, even if it’s for just one fight. Or make all the money he can in the process.
Those are some of the reasons the Californian decided to partake in the UWF Tournament of Warriors.
“I heard about this (UWF tournament) through word of mouth and when I heard it was for $25,000 I jumped on it and that’s that. I think the tourney style is awesome and I love that I have the shot to fight every 3-weeks until the end.”
He’ll have to beat some tough fighters in order to make it there, namely Flavio “The Legendary” Alvaro in the very first round – a fighter experienced in fighting bare-knuckle vale tudo fights in Brazil with an overall record of 38-9.
“The dude is a stud,” he says about Alvaro.” Obviously I’m outmatched experience-wise in the cage but I’m no slouch…I’ve looked at a lot of his opponents he’s beaten and the caliber of fighters he has wins over aren’t too great but the dude is 38-9 and has good stand up..I just wonder why he’s not fighting bigger names. Either way, I’ll be ready.”
“Camp has been better than any fighter could ever ask for. I’ve just been tightening up my ground game mostly. I don’t think about how I’m going to win this fight. I just train the best I can and will go out there looking to do my best. It would mean everything to me to win this tournament. It would get me a lot of exposure to bigger shows and of course the grand prize is $25,000 cash. The most I’ve ever made for a fight alone was $2,000 and that is really good for small shows nowadays… I didn’t even have to sell tickets for this one so all I needed to do is focus on the win. I’m ready to go.”
Fighter Acknowledgements
First and always the most credit goes to Nick and Nate Diaz along with Team Cesar Gracie. Without them I don’t know what I’d be doing right now. They have given me the chance to train with some of the best fighters from around the world. These last few months I’ve had the pleasure of training with fighters like: Cole and Micah Miller, Ronda Rousey, Cody Mckenzie, Daniel Roberts, Kron Gracie, and the list goes on and on, especially with all the bad asses on our own team like Lucas Gamaza, Josh Thornburg, Darin Cooley… I am a very lucky and grateful person to be on this team. Also thanks to all my sponsors: Ziggy’s Smoke Shop, Jimmy Yeung at New China, amd Kevin Berry at the Rusty Hook.